Why utilities respect geomagnetically induced currents

It has been well known for more than 50 years that electric utilities in northern latitudes can have geomagnetically induced currents (GICs) flowing in their transmission lines and transformer ground points, and that these are caused by geomagnetic storms. Initially, these GICs were considered harmless and very little attention was paid to them. However, in the last 40 years it was realized that large GICs can flow in power systems and become problematic and even severe enough to cause a complete system shutdown. Utilities susceptible to GIC do not expect to rely on luck that the geomagnetic storm will not affect them, or if it does, the loading conditions at the time will allow enough margin to ride through it. This is precisely why many utilities today are studying the cause, effect, and mitigation of GICs and why utilities respect GICs. This paper presents a detailed discussion on how electric utilities are affected by GICs and what can be accomplished to mitigate the harmful effects.